The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

In a blast from the past, Jonah sits down with his former job foreman and slumlord, Arthur Brooks, to discuss finding meaning in a complicated and empty world. Arthur and Jonah talk about the difficult conditions of modernity, phone discipline, living like your grandparents, identity portfolios, religion, love, friendship, starting The Dispatch, and Arthur's six steps for finding life's meaning.Show Notes:—Arthur Brooks: The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness—Charles Murray: Taking Religion Seriously—Charles Murray on The Remnant—Malcolm Muggeridge: Something Beautiful for God: The Classic Work on a Skeptic's Conversion Through Mother Teresa's Exemplary Influence—Helen Andrews: “The Great Feminization”The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of Jonah’s G-File newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.
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When Theodore Roosevelt needed a work break, he invited champion martial artists to the White House to spar. When Jonah Goldberg gets tired of the grind, he calls up National Review movie critic Ross Douthat for some good ol’ fashioned intellectual judo. Jonah and Ross get stuck in on Iran, working through the political current state of play, the changing use of the term “regime,” the justifications for the war, and whether Trump betrayed MAGA. They conclude with a brief recap of their disagreement in writing over the future of conservatism.

Show Notes:—Ken Pollack Remnant—Mark Dubowitz on Ross’ little show, Interesting Times—Chris Caldwell in The Spectator: “The end of Trumpism”—Nick Catoggio in The Dispatch: “The Obvious Scapegoat”—Douthat in the NYT: “The Iran War Is Trump’s War”—Ross’ piece on the future of conservatism—Jonah’s response to Ross on the future of conservatism

The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of Jonah’s G-File newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.
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After a week of maniacally running The Dispatch in Steve’s absence—firing employees at will, publishing screeds against pickled herring, etc.—Jonah Goldberg takes up his usual post to ruminate about Pam Bondi, Trump’s speech on the Iran war, his old grievances on Cuba and the Times, the recent Meta case, receipts on John Rawls from last week’s Ruminant, Hannah Arendt on truth in politics, Plato and the divine, and the future of the podcast.

Plus, stick around for Jonah’s spicy take on birthright citizenship.

Show Notes:—“Trump Says ‘I Love’ People Who Are ‘Nice To Me’ – ‘Even if They’re Bad People’ ”—Fireside Chat with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche at CPAC 2026 - 03/26/26—Ross Douthat: “Trump's Second Term Has Ended the Conservative Era”—Jonah’s G-File response to Douthat’s article—Elliott Abrams in National Review: “The President’s Not-So-Reassuring Iran Address”— Robert Timberg: The Nightingale's Song—Tuesday’s Dispatch Podcast on Cuba—Friday’s Dispatch Podcast—Last week’s Ruminant on John Rawls—Hannah Arendt Remnant—Robby George Remnant—Harvey Mansfield Remnant—Advisory Opinions Pod: Birthright Citizenship Oral Arguments—Mediaite: “Hasan Piker Is the Left’s Candace Owens. The Press Treats Him Like a Rock Star”

The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of Jonah’s G-File newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.
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Who was Hannah Arendt? What did she believe about truth and politics? Was she wrong about the American Revolution? Today on The Remnant, Jonah Goldberg and Roger Berkowitz dive into these questions and more, discussing what intellectual category Arendt falls in, her understanding of truth, the question of human nature, Arendt’s relationship with Martin Heidegger, the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, Adolf Eichmann, the meaning of the banality of evil, Arendt’s view of the American Revolution, and whether or not she was a small-“L” liberal.

Show Notes:—Berkowitz’s website—Arendt: The Origins of Totalitarianism—Arendt: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil—Harvey Mansfield Remnant—Arendt: The Human Condition—Jonah’s book, Suicide of the West—Arendt: “The Crisis of Education”—Arendt: “On Revolution”—Berkowitz: “Was Arendt Wrong?”

The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of Jonah’s G-File newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.
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Continuing our epic series of first-time Remnant guests, Jonah Goldberg sits down with the political economists Samuel Gregg to discuss Adam Smith, the Scottish Enlightenment, the social question, shiny shoe buckles, the East India Company, mercantilism, liberalism’s origins, Burke, and the new-right’s rejection of free markets.

Show Notes:—Samuel Gregg’s Law and Liberty article on Adam Smith—Jonah’s book: Suicide of the West—Jamelle Bouie’s attack on Suicide of the West—Jonah’s response to Jamelle Bouie—Daniel B. Klein - “‘Liberal’ as a Political Adjective (in English), 1769–1824”—Quentin Skinner - Liberty before Liberalism—Gregg’s NR article on Smith and Burke—Hayek on Hayek: An Autobiographical Dialogue—“Why I am Not a Conservative” by F. A. Hayek

The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of Jonah’s G-File newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.
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